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Ellsworth contractors work with tribe to destroy bombs

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Contractors from the 28th Civil Engineering Squadron and Native American Engineering detonated four spent munitions Oct. 3, 2011 on the Air Force Retained Area of the former Badlands Bombing Range on Pine Ridge Reservation 20 miles southeast of Phoenix, South Dakota.

The spent munitions were the last known munitions excavated from the World War II era range, which was first used as a training ground for bomber pilots in 1942.

Ellsworth has been working with the Oglala Sioux Tribe since 2008 when then wing commander Col. Scott Vander Hamm and the tribe president John Yellow Bird-Steele signed an agreement work together to clean up the 2,486 acre Air Force Retained Area, to make it safe for reuse, and to facilitate return of the land.

Contractors have been clearing the inactive Air Force Retained Area of the Badlands Bombing Range for the past three months.

For media interested in this project, b-roll and recorded interviews are available. Please contact Major Matthew Reese, 28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs Chief, at (605) 385-5056 or (605) 391-7436 to make arrangements.